Process for cleaning furs.



G. A. & C. HEINEKE.

PROCESS FOR CLEANING FURS.

APPLIATION FILED MAY24, 191s.

L wfltwg Patented Feb.18,1919.

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human s'rarns rnnrr non,

eus'ravn A. HEINEKE Ann CARL HEINEKE, or oHIoaeo, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS FOR GLEANIN G FURS.

residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes for Cleaning Furs, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description.

-Our invention relates to a new and useful process for cleansing fabrics, and particularly furs and fur garments. Heretofore furs and fur garments have been cleansed, particularly by furriers, by inclosing them in a rotatable drum in which a quantity of saw-dust, impregnated with a cleansing ingredient, had been placed, and after the drum had been revolved for a period of time sufiicient to clean the fur, removing the furs and garments and thoroughly agitating the same to remove and shake out the saw-dust and looseha'ir from the same. Formerly the saw-dust and loose hairs were shaken out of the furs by hand, but more recently this has been done by placing the cleansed furs in a second rotatable 'drum having a foraminous periphery and revolving the same until the saw-dust and loose hairs were entirely removed from the furs and had gravitated to the bottom or lowest segment of the drum and then out of the same.

lhe object of our method is to use but one drum to both clean the furs; to beat the furs within the drum and thereby remove the saw-dust and polish the same; to avoid the loss of time and labor heretofore necessary to remove the furs from the cleans: ing drum to the means employed to remove the saw-dust, and to prevent the floating dirt and loose hair generated by the process from being projected into the open air. These and other objects we accomplish in themanner and by the method hereinafter fully disclosed. I

The one figure of the drawings illustrates the apparatus through the medium of which our improved method is accomplished.

The apparatus "illustrated in the drawing constitutes the subject-matter of a co-pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, filed May 24, 1918, Serial No. 236,400, and consists, principally, of a cabinot A; a drum B therein rotatable about a transverse axis; a hopper C in which the lower half of the drum is adapted to revolve and which is capable of being raised and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 24 1918. Serial No. 236,399.

lowered; a'blower-fan D for injecting a current of air into the ca'bihet at one end thereof, and an exhaust-fan E for exhausting the air at the other end; These parts of the apparatus are more fully described and illustrated in the aforesaid co-pending applica- "tion to which reference is had for a more specific description thereof.

For the purposes of this application, however, attention is directed more fully to the construction of the drum and the hopper. The hopper is shown to consist of a troughshaped receptacle having a semi-circular bottom and supported by having its rear end pivotally connected to a transverse shaft and its front end suspended by a cable d, which latter extends vertically up therefrom through the top of the cabinet and over a suitable sheave e and from thence to a point within convenient reach of the operator.

The drum is journaled concentric to the center from which the curvature of the semi-circular bottom of the hopper is struck when the latter is in its uppermost position.

*lts radius and width are less than that of volves. Near its circumference the sides of the drum are connected by a series of equi-distant bars 6 b, and between-these bars rectangular, screens F, F, are placed that are of such dimensions that they fill in the space between the sides of the drum, and when one end ofea'ch screen is secured to, say, the left hand side of the adj acent'bar the other end will fall short of and be separated from the bar on the left thereof a suflicient distance to leave a transversely elongated opening These openings f are designed to be opened and closed by butterfly scoops G, the wings of which are dis-' posed at, say, eighty (80) degrees to each other, and are hinged or otherwise suitably pivoted at their angles to the right hand sides of the bars. The wings of these scoops project a distance slightly greater than the width of openings 7 and are so disposed that one wing of each scoop will be within the circle intersecting the screens and the other outside of said circle.

The furs to be cleaned are inserted in the v drum through a door which is closed by one of said screens, which latter has one side hinged to one side of the drum and its other side locked in any suitable manner to the opposite side of the drum If the fur is the saw-dust therefrom, whereupon made into a garment or adorns the same, the garment is hung by suitable means within the drum. A sniiicient quantity of saw-dust impregnated with cleansing ingredients, such as gasolene or ammonia, is then poured into the hopper and the hopper is raised to its uppermost position and the drum rod. The outer wings of t ese scoops di into and scoop up a on ntity of saw-dust as has continued for a suficient length of time the cabinet and the screen door oi"- the drum are opened and a quantity of sponges inserted into the drum. The hopper is then lowered until it is in a position where the scoops can no longer dig into and scoop up the hinged door or the drum and the cabinet are closed and the drum is rotated During this second period of rotating oi the drum the saw-dust. will, to a great extent, be shaken out of the furs and will gravitate through the lowest segment of the foraminous perimeter of the drum back into the hopper, but considerable saw-dust will remain embedded in the furs. This embed.- ded saw-dust is beaten out of the furs by the action or" the sponges. which are lifted by bars 6, h, and thrown against the furs by the rotation or" the drum and the current of air blown through the same, and they not only beat the saw-dnstand loose hairs and dust out of the furs, but brush against and glaze the surface of the tors.

The saw-dust used in this improved method becomes very dirty and has to be changed very frequently, but the sponges last a very long while and gradually absorb an amount oi the cleansing ingredients and a ate-gee their exteriors become smooth and rounded,

and when in this condition they perform their functions in a better manner than when new. After the furs have thus been relieved t the saw-dust and glazed, the rotation of the drain is stopped and the furs and sponges removed, and the apparatus is then ready to clean another batch of furs.

if desired, the sponges may be left in the drum all the time and thus greatly assist the saw-dust in cleansing the furs by heating them and loosening up the hair thereof so as to enable the saw-dust to get into the fur better. This modified method is the preferred method, because the work of cleansing is accomplished in a much quicker time. All that the operator has to do when he considers that the furs have been treated by the action of the saw-dust a suficient length of time, is to lower the hopper by manipulat- O of the drum.

ll hat we claim as new is 2- l. A method of cleaning furs consisting or agitating the same ina suitable receptacle containing cleansing material and sponges.

2. A method of cleaning furs consisting in agitating the same in a rotatable drum having a ioraminous periphery with sawdust, impregnated with cleansing material, and sponges.

3. A method of cleaning furs consisting in agitating said tors in a receptacle having a ioraminous bottom containing cleansing material and sponges through which a current oi air is blown.

a. A method of cleaning furs consisting of agitating the same in a rotatable drum having a foraminous periphery with sawdust, impregnated with cleansing material, and sponges while a current of air is blown therethrough.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 13th day of May, 1918.

GUSTAV?) A. HETNEKE. CARL HETNEKE. Witnesses FRANK L. TnoMAson, Fronnnen Mrrcnnnng ine cables (Z and stop the further rotation 

